Spectral Dither

Parameters

Level — Dither noise level in dB, −60 to 0. Sets how much randomization is added to the spectrum. −60 dB is barely audible (subtle “alive” feel under transparent material); −24 to −20 is a modest layer of grit; above −12 the dither becomes obvious and characterful (lo-fi, broken-radio textures). For taming digital harshness on sources at full level, −30 to −24 dB is a typical starting point.

Mix — Equal-power blend between dry (0%) and dithered (100%). 100 is full effect; lower values blend the original signal back in for subtler character.

Output Gain — Output level in dB, −24 to +24. Compensates for level changes after dithering.

Low Freq — Lower frequency bound (in Hz) of the dither’s active range, 20–2000. Below this frequency, no dither is applied. Useful for keeping bass content clean while adding noise to the upper spectrum. 200 Hz is a typical starting point for protecting low-end fundamentals.

High Freq — Upper frequency bound (in Hz) of the dither’s active range, 20–20000. Above this frequency, no dither is applied. Pair with low_freq to define a frequency window where dither is added — e.g. 200 Hz to 16 kHz keeps both deep lows and ultra-highs untouched.

Additional controls

Color — Spectral color of the dither noise:

• White — equal energy at all frequencies; the most neutral, but can sound bright/hissy.
• Pink — equal energy per octave (more bass weight); the most natural-sounding noise, mimics natural noise sources (rain, distant traffic).
• Blue — opposite of pink (more high-frequency energy); useful for adding “air” or tape-style high-frequency hiss.
• Shaped — frequency-shaped to follow the input’s own spectrum; the dither sits with the source rather than independent of it. Useful for adding “movement” to static digital material.

Seed — Random seed value, 0–999999. Sets the noise pattern. Same seed → same noise pattern (reproducible). Useful for getting consistent results across renders. Change the seed to get a different but equivalent noise pattern.

Time Varying — When on, the noise pattern changes over time (continually re-seeded). When off, the same noise pattern repeats — produces a static “fixed grain” character that sits with the source consistently. Time-varying on is more natural for general dither use; off can be useful for stylistic “lo-fi loop” effects where you want the noise to be repeatable rather than evolving.

About Spectral Dither

In its traditional form, dither is a tiny amount of noise added during bit-depth reduction to mask quantization distortion. Spectral Dither here is a creative tool inspired by that idea: it adds controlled randomization to the spectral magnitudes within a chosen frequency band. The result is a kind of “spectral organic-ness” — digital sources stop sounding sterile and gain a subtle randomized texture. Use it to: warm up sterile synths, add tape-like grit to clean recordings, soften the harshness of overly-tonal content, or as a sound-design tool for lo-fi/broken aesthetics. The frequency window controls (low_freq/high_freq) keep the dither targeted, so it doesn’t muddy bass or harshen highs unless you want it to.

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